Why Online Communities?

Why online communities? Others are (or soon will be) participating in online communities. Go where they are going!

Why should you care?
Internet use / behavior is changing.
The mindset is more of a “come to me” world.

So what’s changing?
http://www.briansolis.com/2006/12/time-magazine-web-20-and-you.html
Gaming Entertainment Learning Journalism Politics Commerce Business Marketing Mapping

What problems are OC solving?
Work occurs outside of our offices
Email overload - wrong method
Unable to keep up
Need to work together
Need to include clients
You (We) don’t know it all
Communication failures

Online communities are about…
Sharing
Work Information Knowledge Experiences Interests Opinions

Also, they’re about…
Enhancing learning opportunities
Providing better quality services
Communicating
Building relationships
Building professional reputations

Also, they are about the …
Power of
reading feeds
bloggers’ & individuals’ influence
learning from others
(regardless of geography/status)
relating
any format, anywhere

Individuals decide how they want information. Individuals depend on their communities for information.

Blogging
Share your
Expertise Knowledge Information Thoughts Ideas Cool stuff Observations Opinions

Extension professionals Good bloggers’ characteristics

Before blogging
1. Seek
Find feeds that interest you (look for the RSS feed logo )
Extension professionals may find these feeds interesting
“Ten Steps to Web 2.0″ . Watch the archive from April 24

Before blogging
2. Lurk
Stop surfing – read blogs using feed reader (i.e., Google Reader )
How to Use a News Reader
Trying to Create a Listing of News Feeds
Web conference archives
Make Google Reader your home page

Before blogging
3. Converse
Comment on blogs—this is your introduction to blogging.

Before blogging
4. Share
Share your findings on social bookmarking sites del.icio.us or diigo .
See web conference archives on social bookmarking

Following & contributing to existing blogs (conversations), you will:
learn new knowledge & ideas
advance the knowledge of others
share what you learned with others

Beginners’ blogging tips
Getting started in conversations
Tips from a new blogger
Make mine chunky (how to write a blog)
Writing for the web
Legal guide for bloggers
Extension professionals and their passion
Blogging : Stepping into the learning process
Blogging : Build your professional reputation

Next steps Try at least 1 of the applications on the pages “Next Steps”. Then try another & another.

Next steps
Stop editing large attachments – Google Docs
Stop email madness –
Wikis
Instant messaging: AIM, Yahoo, MSN, or enterprise messaging
SMS (text messaging)

Next steps
Share by using wikis & Google Docs & shared resources:
Slideshare
Flickr
YouTube
etc.

Next steps
Share your opinion vote on content
Digg
StumbleUpon
Amazon
etc.

Next steps
Join a social network site
Facebook
MySpace
Ning
LinkedIn
Join a virtual world
Second Life

Other references
Extension in Web 2.0
Trust in the online community
Social networks in plain English
More thoughts on Twitter

Why Online Communities?

by Anne Adrian on Sep 04, 2007

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Why Online Communities? — Presentation Transcript